G & S/Pirates of Penzance [VHS]

A good film in it's own right, the singers are good and professional, but the acting leaves much to be desired, starting off with a 21 year old Frederick who looks more like he's 35! The maidens are typically played by older women trying to look young and Ruth looks younger than all of them (including Mabel!) unfortunately this is a very visual play, and needs the acting that the UK turned American version had... I originally got this because I had not realised there was more than one version out.. only to find out that the Kevin Kline Angela Lansbury version has been deleted from the UK!!! *cries* Anyone can help me get hold of the best copy out there? please tell me! I canm't get it from America as my TV doesn't support NTSC which would be required...

Anyway the actual performance isn't bad.. although as already stated by someone else, the props are rather bad for a tv screening. And the actual music and some of the reactions from the background cast are quite funny, the way Frederick wriggles his eyebrows while singing is also amusing.. although I'm not sure if this is deliberate or not...

All in all al right if you've never seen the better version but really if possible get the Kevin Kline and Angela Lansbury one.

This British TV-version of the Pirates of Penzance is not bad - nor is the original play by Gilbert and Sullivan. Quite the contrary.. Compared to the US version of the same operette released also in the early 1980s, starring Kevin Kline and Angela Lansbury, however, this version has a rather (very) amateurish look. The acting is so-so, and the props does NOT look well, and so on.

You can interpret this in two ways:

1) It is not a good movie production, or
2) It is actually a very good television production of an original piece made for the theatre, and acted and directed as if even this version is meant for the stage.

If you like the second statement, watch this version - it's probably the production Gilbert and Sullivan would prefer (or at least, it is the one closest to the way their operettas were originally performed). If you'd rather have a great movie with nice scenes, great acting and well-coreographed dancing sequences, go for the 1983 US version.

A plus is the introduction by Douglas Fairbanks Jr. to this edition, who tells us a bit about G&S and the Pirates of Penzance.

I have given this edition of The Pirates of Penzance 3 stars - frankly, I can't decide whether I like it or not...

I have loved this operetta since I was a little girl of five and saw it ca. 1940 (The date, mentioned in the libretto, as Frederic's 21st leap-year birthday, made it seem quite modern). Later in life, I saw a splendid British touring production in San Francisco, and "The Pirates of Penzance" remains number one on my Gilbert and Sullivan list.

I must say that this exuberant production has a lot to recommend it: the chorus (the Ambrosian Singers); the costumes; and I quite enjoyed the settings, especially given the age of the production (Douglas Fairbanks Jr gives the introduction). True, the singer playing Frederic looked anything but 'a little boy of five' by any reckoning (the moustache didn't help), but his voice was that wonderful lyric tenor that the role calls for. And I agree with some Amazon.com commenters who noted that Mabel's voice did not 'sail' over the ensembles (perhaps due to the vintage sound system). Similarly, I didn't find the Pirate King's voice robust enough for the baritone role; nor Major-General Stanley's diction 'pattery' enough; and the policemen were a bit lacklustre (I was less than whelmed by "When the felon's not engaged in his employment--his employment, maturing his felonious little plans--little plans", which should bring down the house).

My biggest objection, though, is the absence of subtitles so that one can catch all of the wonderful dialogue (Some of the satire becomes muddled, as when the Pirates confession" "With all our faults, we love our Queen" and Ruth's ridiculous explanation that they are "all noblemen who have gone wrong" lets the Pirates off the hook, and then the Major-General gives in, singing "with all our faults, we love our House of Peers." Subtitles would have helped, although the DVD does supply a libretto (however, one doesn't want to read and watch at the same time).

Despite these objections, I thought that the production had a lot to offer in its clever choreography (The scene in which the Pirates crash in "with cat-like tread" and the police constables, disguised as bushes, are cowering behind tombstones was laugh-out-loud funny). Gilbert's delightful libretto, and Sullivan's glorious music make up for the imperfections of the cast, who compensate for any shortcomings with enthusiasm and high jinks that bring out the ridiculousness of this operetta, the words and music of which are sublime.

Worth checking out from the library (as I did!).